Paraguay

Margaret Hebblethwaite first visited Paraguay in 1996 and fell in love with Santa Maria de Fe, a small town in rural Misiones, which had originally been a Jesuit mission for the indigenous Guaraní people. In 2000, after four years, she moved to the town to deepen her knowledge of Latin American communities to inform her work on liberation theology. She never left, setting up a local hotel (now run by the local community) and founded a charity called the Santa Maria Education Fund. She has also worked with a local sewing co-operative, taught English, and written Bradt’s Paraguay travel guide, which has run to four editions. She is also the author of ten religious books in the areas of feminist theology, spirituality, and Latin American liberation theology.